Bees 'n Blooms - Makin' Honey

One of the best parts of my job as a fabric designer is traveling to antique stores/shows to find vintage fabrics for the prints in my collections. It's a tough gig, but I suffer through! :). When I find an antique quilt with dozens of great prints, it's a real find. But when the quilt is something I fall madly in love with - SCORE! I'm drawn to vintage hexagon quilts, probably because I'll never English Paper Piece one - EVER - in my lifetime. So, I buy antique hex quilts to hang on the ladder in my sewing room for inspiration. This elongated hex called my name and made me ponder the possibility of piecing it with my layered patchwork technique. Hmmmm. The gray matter was in overdrive. Then, in the middle of an episode of Fixer Upper (don't you just love that show?), it hit me that this could be accomplished with simple rectangles and triangles. Holy Stitches! It might just work!

The inspiration Hexagon quilt.

My version of the honeycomb blocks using layered patchwork, Makin' Honey.

Makin' Honey Mini using a charm pack of Bees 'n Blooms.

By looking at the hexs as rows of large vertical rectangles with triangles stitched onto the corners, and alternating rows of smaller horizontal rectangles, it all came together. Here's what the back of the quilt looks like. So easy!

To celebrate Bees 'n Blooms and our Makin' Honey projects, we'll give away another Bees 'n Blooms book plus a pile of scraps to get you started making this quilt. Comment here about whatever strikes your fancy today. I'll be reading each and every comment.

A Mountain Quiltfest

Robert and I are heading south to Pigeon Forge, TN for a week of classes at A Mountain Quiltfest. I've heard so many good things about this show, I can't wait to check it out. If you're in the area, please stop by my classroom and say "Hi!" There might be a few spots left in the workshops if you want to hang out for a while.

48 comments:

I love this little block. I made a tablecloth quilt and two table mats with it using a country church template from Country Threads. It was all hand pieced...took a lot longer than your great idea here!

Welcome to Tennessee, I live in Knoxville, just next door to PF and hope y'all enjoy our peaceful mountains. Looking forward to a chance to meet you that week. My sister and I always stay the week at the Christmas Inn. We are on a cancellation list for your dinner and trunk show. We don't want others to miss meeting you, but... we deep down really want to attend. Robin

Welcome to Tennessee, I live in Knoxville, just next door to PF and hope y'all enjoy our peaceful mountains. Looking forward to a chance to meet you that week. My sister and I always stay the week at the Christmas Inn. We are on a cancellation list for your dinner and trunk show. We don't want others to miss meeting you, but... we deep down really want to attend. Robin

Welcome to Tennessee, I live in Knoxville, just next door to PF and hope y'all enjoy our peaceful mountains. Looking forward to a chance to meet you that week. My sister and I always stay the week at the Christmas Inn. We are on a cancellation list for your dinner and trunk show. We don't want others to miss meeting you, but... we deep down really want to attend. Robin

As I went to sit down at church last Sunday, I noticed a flying insect that have a stinger on the bench. Those who saw wanted me to kill it, but I couldn't. I want to create a Makin Homey mini as a way to remember that without bees, we wouldn't have the sweetness of honey.

I love your web site. I have been collecting scraps so I can make a quilt like this (not the same pattern) but the colors are dark, and deep they are starting to draw me in. I already have a one gallon bag with strips that are 4 x 8 inch being the biggest. Thank you for the giveaway.

This one is blowing my mind. I love to look at quilts and figure out how they are pieced before looking at the instructions. I can not figure this one out once I looked at the picture of the back. Really ? Easy ? If I never make this quilt I sure do want to know how ! But of course, it sure would be a wonderful stash busting project !

All I can say is WOW. What a great idea. I don't have the patience to make a hexie quilt the regular way, so this is just up my alley! One of my prize possessions is a flower garden quilt that my mother pieced and quilted. It's beautiful.

In the Pacific Northwest, Spring has been appearing early with lots of blooms; however, when in the garden pulling weeds yesterday, I did not see any bees. Perhaps it's still a bit cold for them to leave the hive. Love the layered quilt technique you use!!

I really enjoy your blog you have such great ideas. As a person who does longarm quilting for friends, I would like to stress the importance of measuring your quilt and cut your borders to that length instead of just sewing a strip on and them cutting it off each end. I have trouble with quilting the border without having tiny tucks. Just a thought. Thanks.

What a great idea. I too love hexies but doubt I would stay with the project long enough to finish it. Maybe a mini but then I think of my Grandma's Flower garden, ongoing for longer than I can remember and quail at even starting. This would be magic. Thanks.

Would love to try the Makin' Honey layered patchwork project. Just used some of my Bees 'n Blooms collector club fabrics to make a crazy patch table runner project at our local guild meeting. Love the new fabric line! :o)

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About Me

I'm a wife, mom, gramma and quilter - not necessarily in that order. My husband, Robert, and I have 6 grown children and 8 grandkids between us ranging from 4-14 years of age. Our busy lives are centered around our families, our business - Kansas Troubles Quilters - and our mutual love for all things old. Robert works with me at KTQ as chief printer, bookkeeper and general "make-the-designer-happy" guy while I design fabric for Moda and create simple, pieced, country quilts that are easy and fun to live with. In our spare time, we enjoy antique shopping, attending plays and hanging out at our little cabin. Right now, life is good and I've got the t-shirts to prove it!